Lily in the Sky with Diamonds
by sweeet-as-honey
Summary: Alexander Forbes-Blackwell (George Rainsford's first Casualty character) arrives at the ED in a drugged-up haze. He takes one look at Lily and decides he wants her. She takes one look at Xander and thinks he's Ethan.
1. Chapter 1

_I recently watched the 2012 Casualty episode Ricochet 'How to Save a Life', which featured George Rainsford as a surprisingly endearing drug addict called Alexander Forbes-Blackwell, Xander to his friends. I started wondering what might happen if Xander visited the ED in the present day and was mistaken for Ethan. There will be two chapters._

* * *

Xander wasn't completely sure what he was doing at the ED. He didn't remember deciding to come here and he certainly didn't feel ill or injured, but he couldn't remember very much at all of the last six hours. The clock on the wall said it was 6pm, but Xander felt as though midday was no more than twenty minutes ago.

He only wished he could remember what he'd been doing. He always had such a good time when he was high. It had the most remarkable effect on his intelligence. He was able to spot jokes that would have gone right over his head if he hadn't taken anything. When he was high, he spent quite a large proportion of the time laughing. Life was so funny, if only you had the mental capacity to notice it.

As he couldn't remember getting here, he wasn't sure if he'd booked in or not. He thought it might be fun to invent an imaginary ailment and see how long it took the doctors to realise he was faking it, but he'd been to this ED before and the one thing he remembered clearly was that a sense of humour bypass seemed to be a prerequisite for all employees.

Perhaps it would be better if he left now. The only alternative was waiting here to see if the receptionist guy with the pony tail called his name. This was problematic because a) waiting time at the ED could be six hours and b) there was no guarantee Xander had given them him his real name.

He stood up and started to make his way out of the waiting room, but something stopped him.

A woman.

No, not just a woman. A _goddess_. Xander wasn't sure if she was real or a hallucination, but he felt as though he should at least find out.

The goddess' eyes met his.

Xander started to feel dizzy. Maybe she had magical powers. She might be a… a witch or something.

A witch _doctor_! he thought, delighted with his own wit, as he saw the stethoscope around her neck.

The woman walked up to him with purposeful strides. With legs like those, Xander suspected she'd caused more heart attacks than she'd cured.

"I heard you were looking for me," she said, her eyes travelling up and down his body.

Xander felt it was only polite to do the same to her body. He discovered, among other things, that her name was Dr Lily Chao. "Baby, I've been looking for you my whole life."

The ice melted. Lily smiled and simpered and tossed her hair about distractingly. "Why didn't you say something before?" she giggled.

Xander wanted her. Now. Possibly over the reception desk. "I've only just like, seen you for the first time." He let his eyes enjoy every inch of her body – or at least every inch on display. He imagined the rest. "Woah."

Lily looked confused. "What do you mean: 'whoa'? I am not a horse."

"Oh, I'm not sure about that," said Xander. "There's definitely something of the thoroughbred about you, Lily. You're beautiful; you're not cheap; and I'd like to ride you."

Lily gasped and for a moment, he genuinely thought she might slap him (some women did that: it was very annoying, not to mention painful), but then she smiled. "Perhaps we should continue this conversation somewhere more private."

"Great idea," said Xander happily. "Where shall we go?"

"The on-call room," said Lily.

Xander wasn't sure what that was, but most hospital rooms had either beds or desks and he thought either would suit his purposes. He let Lily show him the way. She said nothing as she walked, instead looking straight ahead of her, but perhaps she didn't want to draw attention to what she was doing. Xander was sure a classy bird like Lily wouldn't sleep with any random patient who showed an interest.

He saw a man walking towards them. A tall man with blondish hair (though not as blond as Xander's) and a general air of fancying himself. "Where are you two off to then?" he asked when he saw Xander and Lily.

"To the on call room for some fun," said Xander. He would bet anything this guy - Dr Caleb Knight, his badge said - had fantasised about doing the exact same thing with Lily. Perhaps he'd even done it, but Xander didn't think so. This Caleb wasn't in Lily's league.

Caleb's eyebrows shot up halfway to his hairline. "Some _what_?" he almost squeaked.

"Fun," said Xander. He grabbed at Caleb's stethoscope and whipped it from around his neck. "Maybe you should look it up in the dictionary, bro."

Caleb tried to speak, but at first only succeeded in making strangled, inarticulate sounds. "Have you been taking something?"

"Oh, I would imagine so," said Xander, who honestly couldn't remember. "Maybe a bit of LSD. Whatever was lying around the flat. You know." He tried to lasso Lily with the stethoscope, but only succeeded in dropping it.

Caleb quickly snatched it up. "Is he all right?" he asked Lily. "He's behaving very oddly."

"I know," said Lily smugly.

Xander wouldn't have said he was behaving oddly at all, but as long as Lily was happy, who cared?

"Right. Well." Caleb gave Xander another worried look. "I'll leave you to it then."

"Don't worry, Caleb," said Xander airily. "I know what I'm doing."

"For Lily's sake, I hope you do," said Caleb. He frowned. "Where are your glasses?"

Xander stared at him. He didn't wear glasses. He never had. And even if he did, how would Caleb know?

Then Lily answered and Xander realised the question must have been directed at her. "Contact lenses, obviously," she said briefly. "Excuse us, Cal."

"Yeah: excuse us, Cal." Xander pretended to grab at Caleb's stethoscope again and walked off with Lily.

* * *

Lily pushed open the door and Xander looked around the on-call room approvingly.

"The bed or the desk?" he wondered aloud.

"The bed," said Lily firmly. "Right, Dr Hardy. Let's get on with it."

Xander was confused for a moment, but then he realised. They were playing a sex game! He'd heard about those. He had a feeling he might even have played one, but his memories were very hazy. "Dr Hardy… no, I don't like that. I'm Dr Forbes-Blackwell and don't you forget it. You are Nurse Fragrant Lily."

Lily's eyes and voice were suddenly full of ice. "You may be Dr Forbes-Blackwell if you wish. It has a certain ring to it."

"Thank you," said Xander, pleased.

"But we don't want any sexism here," said Lily severely. "I am Dr Chao and don't _you_ forget it."

Xander shrugged. It didn't make much difference to him as long as he got laid. "Okay. You're Dr Chao and I'm Nurse Forbes-Blackwell." He liked that. Dominant women always turned him on. He held out his hand. "Nurse Alexander Forbes-Blackwell, but my mates usually call me Xander. Well, sometimes they call me other things too, but not the kind of thing I can say in front of you. But usually, it's Xander."

"But I am not really your 'mate'." Lily said the word as though she found it slightly distasteful. "I am your colleague."

Xander nodded approvingly. If they were going to play a sex game, they might as well do it properly "So, Dr Chao, it looks like you're in charge here. Are you going to ask me to remove my clothes so you can begin the examination or what?"

"That sounds like an excellent idea, Nurse Forbes-Blackwell," said Lily.

* * *

Cal really felt as though he needed a lie-down. And unfortunately not the same type of lie-down as Ethan was getting.

He couldn't believe it was really happening.

It wouldn't have surprised him if Ethan had announced he was taking Lily out to dinner, but he couldn't see either of them running off to the on-call room during a shift to have sex.

Yet he had seen it.

Cal tried to treat one of his patients, but it wasn't long before he realised his head wasn't right. "I'm sorry. I need to go and… check something," he said vaguely. "I'll be back soon."

He went to the staff room and opened the door… to discover Ethan calmly reading a textbook.

"Wow, maybe eight minutes was over-generous!" he said.

Ethan looked up. "Eight minutes?" He looked at his watch. "No, I've been here longer than eight minutes."

"But…" Not for the first time today, Cal was lost for words. Ethan definitely hadn't been here for eight minutes, but the truth was equally impossible. How had Ethan managed to have sex, get himself back to the staff room, change from that dodgy t-shirt into his scrubs and take out his contact lenses all in seven minutes?

"Is everything all right, Caleb?" said Ethan, concerned. He closed his book and put it down beside. "Are you okay?"

"Where's Lily?" said Cal.

Ethan shrugged. "I haven't got the faintest idea. I haven't seen her for a couple of hours."

"But…" Cal wondered if he was ill. He did have a bit of a headache. "So, just to check. You didn't just have sex with Lily in the on-call room?"

Ethan looked shocked. "Certainly not! I haven't even asked Lily out for dinner yet. And even if I had, it's the middle of a shift, Caleb!"

Cal stared at him, then he lay down on the sofa and put a hand to his admittedly-warm forehead. "Ethan, I don't think I'm very well."


	2. Chapter 2

**CBloom2** , thank you for your review - I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Maybe two Ethans are even better than one!

 **Gillian Kearney Fan** , I've already replied in a pm, but I hope you were able to watch the episode. George is very good! Thank you for your review.

 **LittleBritishPerson** , I sent you a pm too - I hope you were able to watch the episode. Thank you for your review - I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.

 **Tanith Panic** , thank you for your review. I'm really happy you like the idea! I hope you weren't too offended by the sexist comments.

 **TheAtomicCheesepuff** , thank you for your review - I'm really happy you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy Chapter 2 too.

 **ETWentHome** , I love that song too. Even if it is supposed to be about LSD! Thank you for your review - I'm so happy you enjoyed it.

 _Thank you for the follows and favourites too._

 _I hope the ending isn't disappointing. It might not be quite what you're expecting._

* * *

Xander awoke to find himself in a strange bed. This happened to him quite a lot and he was usually very disappointed to discover whose bed. Drugs were fun and everything, but they did sometimes alter your perceptions. He quite often went to bed with complete stunners, only to wake up the next morning and discover they were actually quite average.

His latest girl had has face half-hidden by the duvet and he was almost afraid to look, but curiosity got the better of him. He gently pushed the bedclothes back to reveal… a goddess!

She really was stunning. She had lustrous dark hair, a sweet little nose and full red lips which, to his delight, he could remember kissing. He could remember all sorts of things he'd done with her.

He could remember her name too. Lily.

Dr Lily Chao.

Xander eased out of bed carefully so he wouldn't disturb her and checked his phone. There were about ten missed calls from Shakira (his flatmate, John Shakir, not the singer, unfortunately), as well as several texts and a couple of voice mails. Apparently, Xander forgotten to switch off the incense burners he'd been trying to get high on, and this had caused a small fire in the flat. It wasn't the first time and Xander doubted it was the last, but he decided he'd better go home and help clear up the mess.

He looked at Lily. It seemed cruel to wake her. Doctors probably never got enough sleep.

He searched the room as quietly as he could and found a pen and some paper.

 _Dear Lilly_

 _sry I had 2 go, set fire to my flat again lol_

 _u look so butiful cant bare 2 wake u up_

 _u r amazin cant wait 2 c again_

 _rly hope u want 2 c me_

 _plz call me_

 _love_

 _Xander xxxx_

He added his phone number and left the note on the bed.

* * *

Lily awoke with strange images in her mind. Lovely images, but strange.

Herself and Ethan in bed, naked.

Lily smiled. He'd said so many beautiful things to her. Some of them had been clichés, like _I've been looking for you my whole life_ and the one about seeing her properly for the first time, but it had seemed to Lily as though he'd meant every word.

It wasn't the first time she'd had dreams like this, but this time seemed different. This time seemed more real.

She sat up in bed and looked around, not noticing the piece of paper that fluttered to the floor.

There was no sign of Ethan. No sign that he'd even been there.

Lily closed her eyes for a moment and remembered everything Ethan had said to her last night. It had been wonderful, but it couldn't be real. Ethan would never disappear in the middle of a shift like that – particularly not for this kind of activity. For that matter, neither would Lily.

And the things he'd said to her… Lily could imagine Ethan telling a girl she was beautiful, but not that she was hot, fit, sexy, a 'total babe', or any of the other, less polite terms he'd used. Ethan would never tell her, right in the middle of reception, that he wanted to 'ride' her. He also wouldn't be seen dead in that ridiculous t-shirt.

So it must have been a dream.

Lily sighed sadly, then she got out of bed and dressed. She made the bed and had a quick glance around the room before leaving, but she didn't notice the piece of paper on the floor.

It lay there, unread, until one of the cleaners arrived a couple of hours later. English was not her first language and even if it had been, she probably couldn't have made sense of Xander's scrawl. She screwed up the piece of paper and put it in the bin.

* * *

Ethan had never been so glad to see anyone. He hurried up to Lily and spoke quietly so nobody would overhear. "Lily, where have you been? Mrs Beauchamp is looking for you."

A guilty look passed across Lily's face. "I fell asleep in the on-call room."

If Cal had said something like that, Ethan would not have been happy. but this was Lily. "Oh, don't worry. We've all done that – though perhaps you should think of something different to tell Mrs Beauchamp." Ethan looked at Lily, his heart clenching. He didn't know what it was, but she seemed vulnerable. "Are you okay? You're not ill, are you?"

"No, I don't think so," said Lily. "No, I'm fine. I just need to wake up."

"I'll make you some coffee," said Ethan. "Mrs Beauchamp's in Resus so you should have time. I've seen a couple of your patients for you. I'm sorry I couldn't do more, but Cal's ill so I'm already doing more work than usual."

"Cal is ill?" Lily's voice was sharp; perhaps a little disbelieving.

Ethan nodded. He could understand her scepticism. "No, he really is ill this time. Some kind of bug, I think. He's got a temperature and a headache. He seemed quite upset too. Something to do with stethoscopes and drugs? He wasn't making a lot of sense." Cal had said a couple of other things, of course, but Ethan definitely wasn't going to tell Lily about _that_.

He wasn't even going to think about it.

Though it would be nice if, one day, in a completely different venue, at a far more appropriate time, and only when his relationship with Lily had progressed significantly...

Lily's voice broke into his thoughts. "What was Cal saying about stethoscopes and drugs?"

Ethan shrugged. "I really have no idea. He was just mumbling to himself. I think he was talking about one of his patients: trying to prescribe them something. I would think he'd been working too hard, but then again, this is Cal!"

Lily giggled and flicked her hair. She was doing that quite a lot now. Ethan thought it was sweet.

When they reached the staff room, Ethan told Lily to sit down while he made her coffee. Wistfully, he added: "I wish I could sit with you and have a coffee too, but I need to get back to work."

Just as the kettle boiled, Lily appeared in the kitchen. "Ethan, you... you haven't been up to the on-call room today, have you?"

"No, I don't think anyone has," said Ethan. "Apart from you, of course. Don't worry: I quite often wake up and think someone's been in my room. Sometimes I'm right and Cal has ben sneaking around, looking for something, but most of the time, it's just a dream." He smiled. "I can always tell if Cal's been in there because he makes such a mess."

"Oh, I see," said Lily. "Did anyone else notice I was missing?"

Ethan shook his head. "Mrs Beauchamp is the only person who mentioned you, and she's been in Resus most of the day so she doesn't know you were missing for a couple of hours. I just told her you were on your break."

"Thank you, Ethan," said Lily gratefully. "I really am sorry. It was unprofessional."

Ethan smiled. "It's all right. I've done it a couple of times. Had a lie-down for five minutes, only to discover an hour or two had passed. I avoid lying down now: it's the only way. I'm sorry, Lily, but I really must get back to work now. Enjoy your coffee, but don't push yourself if you're not well. You might have the same bug as Cal. I'll see you later."

He smiled at Lily again and left the room. Not for the first time, he was thinking about how beautiful she was. If only he was the kind of man who had the courage to do something about it.

* * *

Xander awoke to a pounding headache, a churning stomach, and the lingering smell of burning. He had various images mixed up in his mind: some exquisite memories involving a goddess called Lily and some excruciating ones involving a lecture from Shakira and a fireman.

He thought the lecture was probably real as he could smell that something had been burning, but he didn't have much hope that Lily was real. She was too perfect – and Xander was fairly sure it was impossible to walk into a hospital and get off with one of the doctors. No, she had to be a drug-induced hallucination.

Xander lay back on his pillow, a smile on his face despite the pain and nausea.

As hallucinations went, he'd had a hell of a lot worse.


End file.
